Angolan fishermen critical of lacking enforcement of sustainable fishing practices

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By Pedro Tchindele for Radio Ecclesia in Angola

Angola recently signed the United Nations treaty on legal and sustainable fishing, but the reality described by shipowners is totally different from the intention of the authorities, reports Pedro Tchindele for Radio Ecclesia. In the Angolan province of Benguela, shipowners are critical and reveal what they consider to be excessive transgressions in the country’s seas. They say that illegal fishing, which has been a constant practice, is carried out in trawls within four nautical miles for artisanal fish, use of explosives in the capture and other practices adverse to sustainable fishing. Meanwhile, in a commune on the coast of Benguela, there are reports of the disappearance of the green lobster, a clear consequence of trawling on the coast of Benguela, as stated by the local administrator, José Faria.

Listen to Pedro’s full report here (in Portuguese).

This article is reproduced here as part of the African Conservation Journalism Programme, funded in Angola, Botswana, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe by USAID’s VukaNow: Activity. Implemented by the international conservation organization Space for Giants, it aims to expand the reach of conservation and environmental journalism in Africa, and bring more African voices into the international conservation debate. Written articles from the Mozambican and Angolan cohorts are translated from Portuguese. Broadcast stories remain in the original language.